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Leaf Mould Scheme 2024
Another season of our Leaf Mould Composting Programme has wrapped up, and we’re pleased to report on what we achieved in 2024! We’re really grateful to Fingal County Council for funding this valuable project again, with workshops run by Craig Benton helping groups, communities, and residents.
Here in Swords, our dedicated Master Composter, Ramune, led the project. She planned ahead and got the materials for new cages early, so we were ready when the leaves started falling. Before the new season began, she checked all the existing cages and fixed any problems to make sure they were ready to work well.
Tackling Challenges: Education and Relocation
One ongoing problem we deal with is people putting the wrong things into our leaf mould cages. Sadly, some put in grass cuttings, ivy cuttings, general rubbish, dog poo bags, and other garden waste. These items spoil the good leaf mould and stop the composting process.
To help with this, Ramune designed some helpful posters. We shared these widely on our social media to teach everyone what should and shouldn’t go into the cages.
Also, we moved some cages to new spots. This was a way to stop them from being misused and keep our leaf mould project running smoothly.
Community Effort & Impact
We’re proud to say that in total, 30 leaf mould cages have been set up in 11 different places across Swords! These new cages went into various housing estates, schools, and community gardens, greatly increasing our composting efforts.
A huge thank you goes out to all the residents who came to help with putting up and looking after the cages throughout the season. We also want to give a special shout-out to the brilliant team of six Transition Year (TY) girls from St. Finian’s Community College and the TY students from Fingal Community College for all their fantastic help during the leaf season. Their hard work was so important!
The finished product from all this effort – mulch (after one year) and compost (after two years) – is then used on our planters and flowerbeds all over town. This full-circle approach really helps us turn fallen leaves into a fantastic, rich resource for our community’s green spaces, helping to make Swords more sustainable.
Leaf Mould Scheme 2023
It’s been a particulary productive season for Ramune, STT member and master composter. She has taken advantage of the mesh materials, provided by Fingal County Council, and the abundance of leaves to extend her leaf mould composting programme in Swords.
A new leaf mould (old cage replacement) was installed and filled at Pinnock Hill on October 14. Thirteen bags of two-year-old compost from the previous years were taken to our polytunnel to be used in our gardening projects.
Two weeks later with the help of other STT members and Transition Year students, the year-old leaves were taken to the tunnel for further composting, and the cage re-filled with fresh leaves.
Later in the month Ramune and Grace relocated, combined and prepared the leaf cages in Seatown for the new season. In November 4 new cages were installed and filled, and the two other ones topped up.
On November 7, Ramune helped Kay, a Carlton Court estate resident, to set up two leaf cages. A third mould was installed shortly afterwards. All three were packed to full capacity over the following weeks. By December a total of 5 were in position on that estate.
Another STT member, Catherine, collected leaves for the new cage at Cherry Park. On November 8 she and her neighbours were shocked to discover that a small group of young teenagers had set fire to the cage. We are accustomed to working with enthusiastic, hard-working Transition Year students, so this was totally unexpected. Never daunted, Catherine and Ramune installed a new cage the next day, and salvaged what they could. To our dismay the new cage was damaged two days later. It has now been relocated in a more public position, and neighbours have been keeping a watchful eye on it. Another new cages has been installed in the neighbouring Cherry Avenue.
On November 11, cages on Watery Lane and by the Fire Station were emptied/combined and refilled. On November 25 a new cage was installed on Watery Lane next to the Town Park and older ones topped up.
With the help of Malachy, a STT member, two more cages were installed at Rivervalley Rise.
Ramune received 6 extra cages from Craig Benton through FCC, as she’d used up all 8 of the original quota at the start of the season. All 14 new cages (a replacement of old cages in some cases) were installed and filled this year in Swords. Currently, Swords Tidy Towns members are looking after 26 leaf mould cages in various locations in Swords.
A by-product of this scheme was the prevention of slipping accidents. We cleared paths of fallen, wet leaves as we worked.
It was wonderful to see how many residents of the town became interested in learning more about this type of composting, as they saw us go about our work. So leaf cages may appear in more housing estates and in new locations around town next autumn.
Leaf Mould Scheme 2022
STT member, Ramune Kuzminiene, completed the “Master Composter” course in 2019. Since then she has established two leaf moulds and general composting at our polytunnel. Her work has also spread out into the wider community. She has established leaf cages at several local primary and secondary schools.
This year (2022), Fingal County Council has offered to provide a limited number of leaf mould cages to community organisations for placement in common areas to collect leaves for making leaf mould. We took this opportunity to participate and encourage a wider use of this brilliant composting method and a sustainable way to deal with organic waste.
Our member Grace Dunne, liaises with local housing estates on our behalf. With a help of Craig Benton – the lead Master Composter trainer, our own Master Composter Ramune and other local Community Composters, several leaf mould cages have been set up in various residential estates: 2 in Seatown Villas, 1 in Seatown Terrace, 3 in Comyn Manor, 2 in Highfields, 4 in Drynam, 2 in Carlton Court, 1 in Cherry Park and 1 in Brackenstown Village/Glasmore Park.
Additional leaf cages were set up around a town with a help of our volunteers and Fingal Community College TY students. 2 Cages were added at the Fire Station, 2 more on Watery Lane and 1 cage on Malahide Rd roundabout behind our Inclusivity sculpture.
Two two-year-old cages – 1 at the Pinockhill and the other 1 in our tunnel were emptied and refilled again with new leaves. The produced compost was used for our gardening needs around the town.
It’s wonderful to see leaf litter around our town being added to the growing number of leaf cages to form useful compost, rather than being added to landfill.
Leaf Mould Projects with Schools
Our Swords Tidy Towns member Ramune Kuzminiene aka ‘Roving Composter’ has been working with primary and secondary schools in Swords, setting up leaf mould cages to compost leaves that can be used after a year as a mulch or as a compost (after two years) by the schools for their individual needs. The gallery below gives a glimpse of her visits to Finian’s Community College, Swords Educate Together and Holywell Educate Together National schools.
Swords Tidy Towns 